Feng Zhu Zheng

US Patent:

8084415, Dec 27, 2011

Filed:

Nov 1, 2007

Appl. No.:

11/934050

Inventors:

Anil B. Mukherjee - Brookeville MD, US
Feng Zheng - Rockville MD, US
Zhongjian Zhang - Rockville MD, US

Assignee:

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Departmant of Health and Human Services - Washington DC

International Classification:

A61K 38/17
C07K 14/435

US Classification:

514 2, 514 12

Abstract:

Uteroglobin has been discovered to prevent IgA mediated diseases, such as IgA nephropathy, by preventing the deposition of IgA-Fibronectin immunocomplexes in tissues such as the renal glomeruli. The invention therefore includes methods of treating such diseases by administering therapeutically effective amounts of uteroglobin (and variants or mimetics) to prevent or improve the IgA mediated condition. Transgenic uteroglobin knockout animals, and animals in which uteroglobin-protein expression is reduced by antisense technology, also provide systems for studying IgA mediated diseases, and screening for appropriate treatments.